Dan Antion

Quirky Habits – SoCS

That soup was amazing
One of my real bar buddies was helpful as a beta reader and a source of information while I was writing this.
MuMu is enjoying the shelf over my desk again, not that the sun is moving around to the south.

It’s Saturday, and David and I are at the bar, trying to figure out the menu and when habits become superstitions. We’re also going to work in Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt. If we can.

“Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is ‘ring.’ Use it as a noun or a verb. Bonus points if you use it as both. Have fun!”

If we were having a beer, we wouldn’t pass up a chance on scoring bonus points.

“Dan, why do you carry half a key ring?”

“Because the keys to my wife’s car are on the other half, and I rarely drive her car.”

“Oh wow, I didn’t notice that. You actually have one of those two-part key rings.”

“Yes. What were you talking about?”

“I hate to break up this scintillating conversation, but it sounds like you guys need some alcohol.”

“Hi Cheryl. I’d like a Naughty Nurse Amber. Give David his usual, but make sure you give it all to him. He seems anti-fraction today.”

“It’s just that I noticed you have one of those lanyard style keyrings, but the part that goes around your neck is missing.”

“I only connect the two parts if and when the Steelers make the playoffs.”

“Oh, I see. I know there are superstitions around rings and jewelry, but I think you’re pushing it.”

“Here you go. One ice cold amber draft and one John Howell’s Special, complete with cherries.”

“Cheers, David. And you know what they say, it’s only superstition if it doesn’t work.”

“But you’re trying to prove a negative. Unless you’re saying that if you put the keychain together, the Steelers won’t make the playoffs. You’re not saying that…are you?”

“Not exactly.”

“Then what, exactly?”

“I’ve had this keychain for twelve years. The only year I had it connected at the beginning of the season, they lost their first four games.”

“So, that was your fault?”

“No. Of course not, but…”

“You’re not taking any chances. I get it.”

“I get it, too. Sports fans are crazy. You guys want anything to eat?”

“The Italian sausage and peppers appetizer looks good.”

“The soup?”

“No, not the soup, the other appetizer, the first one.”

“Here, look at the Specials Menu. The Italian sausage thing is the soup. They ran out of room on the board, there’s a lot of letters in there.”

“Is it alphabet soup?”

“No, Dan. I meant in the name.”

“Still, it’s a valid question. Is there pasta in the soup?”

“No, David. There are some veggies, mostly peppers and onions in a tomato broth.”

“Have you ever had that on the menu before, Cheryl?”

“It doesn’t ring a bell. Look, think it over. I’ll be back.”

“So, other than getting your seasonal superstitions in order, what else did you do this week, Dan?”

“I set the corner posts for the fence around the new air conditioner compressor, and I removed the freon lines from inside the house.”

“Don’t you need those?”

“No, the new system has the lines going up the back wall of the house. The original installer insisted on going through the basement ceiling and up through a closet in our daughter’s room.”

“Why on earth would he want to do that?”

“No clue.”

“OK, but why do you need a fence around the compressor? I thought the only reason you had that was to keep your male dog from peeing on the fins.”

“That was the original purpose, but now we use the fence in the winter to keep the snow off the compressor.”

“It sits out in the rain, what’s wrong with snow?”

“It’s the snow and ice falling off the roof, I’m worried about. The roof is tall and steep, it could do some damage.”

“I see.”

“I see you guys are almost out of beer and bourbon. Another round?”

“Yes, and two bowls of that soup, Cheryl.”

“You’ve been using this as a shelf again. I had to kick your glasses onto the floor.”
Magnetic Stanley FatMax level
The fence is bigger than the last one. The caution tape will help us make sure we can get around it with mowers and the snow blower.
That is a lot to put on a chalk board
Double Rose of Sharon still blooming
Lonely leaf, stuck in a puddle
The sun is rising later
I still remember Jinx
“The peanut you gave me is gone.”
I like lines
The sun is still low as I’m walking
View from Great River Park, before the recent rain
Four and twenty? More than that showed up for dinner.
Hi bunny
Still at half staff in honor of the the Queen


If you like magical realism with suspense, action and a bit of family sarcasm, you will enjoy these books:

Knuckleheads
The Evil You Choose
When Evil Chooses You

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68 comments

  3. Personally, I would have gone for the Spring Rolls… But the soup did look good! The neighbor has a Ring doorbell camera and she caught a bear coming up to the door the other night. She was cooking dinner and had left the front door open, but the screen door closed. Her husband said tonight that he thought we had a family of bears prowling the neighborhood. I had to agree since the one I spotted the other night (he/she was feasting on the other neighbor’s trash) had to have weighed 300-400 lbs. The bear that came for dinner was more like a cub and probably weighed 200 lbs. give or take.

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    • Not the dinner guest I would want to have. A 200lb baby could still do some damage. I had both appetizers instead of an entree. The soup was wonderful., The spring rolls were sliced in half and were a little dry. Not the best.

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  5. “I had to kick your glasses to the floor.” Now MuMu is doing one-liners! And Smokey is doing stand-up comedy!

    The photo that depicts the view from Great River Park before the rain looks like a magnificent painting, not a picture. Beautiful.

    Old Glory still at half mast in honor of the Queen, and still bathed in those glorious sunbeams! It’s like it’s a little extra something for the Queen who was so loved.
    Ginger

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    • MuMu has such an expressive way about her. It’s usually clear what she means. Smokey always wants another peanut. He has learned to take one, ask for another and then sit next to the first one while eating the second. Then he picks up the first one and runs off. I guess he’s training me.

      I usually want the flag to get back to the top, but this time, I don’t mind seeing it lowered in respect for a long serving Queen.

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  6. Ooh, a project. Please post a finished shot so I can see what materials you used. I put a rather strange cover on each winter to keep the ice and snow out so I could definitely use an updated option. Soup looks delicious, and it’s getting to soup season. It was 42°F this morning when I made coffee. Happy weekend, Dan.

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    • It’s a chain link fence, as air has to move through freely. I add a short extension between the back two posts to support a small sloped roof of hardware cloth and then I cover it with a trap. The old one is shown below, all covered. I’m sure to post some work-in-progress shots for this one. That soup was delicious, and this was a good week to have it. I hope you have a great weekend.

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  7. Never been a fan of veggie soups but I’ll take an order of shrimp spring rolls please. And as I wave to the bunny, I have to admit Smokey the squirrel will make a suitable replacement come winter. He has a certain …. presence.
    😉

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    • I had both appetizers instead of an entree. The spring rolls were OK, but they were sliced in half, and somewhat dry. I should be able to find unused bunny photos to drop in during the winter, but Smokey seems to be a permanent fixture on the lawn, albeit not as much as when we had our dog.

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  11. Remember the commercial (I believe it was Budweiser) where a fan engages in odd superstitious behavior and then the voiceover guy says, “It’s only weird if it doesn’t work?” Yeah, well, I don’t like to wear any Packer clothing or jewelry on gameday. It goes back to when Favre was playing and every time I wore this really nice Packer sweatshirt, they would lose. This past Sunday, I wore a different Packer sweatshirt to watch the game with Natasha and you probably saw how horribly they lost. So, no Packer stuff and I make sure I don’t wear the opposing team’s color.

    I AM weird, and this voodoo doesn’t always work, but I don’t care. It’s my thing.

    Have a great weekend, Dan. Nice photos in the gallery. Say hi to Smoky (I saw Smoky’s cousin yesterday) and put an order in for me for the shrimp spring rolls.

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  12. One year when Big Baby Boy was in high school he wore his belt backwards accidently and they won so the rest of the season he kept wearing it backward until they finally lost. They went to the playoffs that year. Then there was a coach when he was in Little League that was on a winning streak who refused to wash his car until they lost. They went to the playoffs too but, by the end of the season that guy’s car was so disgusting and gross! I’ll spare you the details.
    Talk about superstitious…I and…I’m sure the entire league gave that guy the ribbon for going a bit too far with a superstition. Yuk!!

    He-Man made a wooden topper with a handle to put on top of the A/C compressor for the winters. So far it’s worked out well for protecting it.

    I’m ready for soup season! 😀

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    • If it works, I’m ok with it. I could see doing the reverse belt thing.

      Good idea protecting the top of the unit. With our gambrel roof, the ice and snow slides off with some force.

      I hope all your teams win this weekend!

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      • LOL!! My favorite teams are the ones my kids/grandkids are playing on and they’re not playing on any at the moment so…🤣 He-Man, Big Baby Boy, and He-Man’s best friend have been talking football since before the pre-season football games started.
        I’m sure He-Man will be watching more than he usually does as we’re so smoked in. Our air quality yesterday evening when we drove back into the valley was 383! I hope it’s better today. It’s still dark out, but my view out back isn’t looking good. 😭
        I hope your teams win this week-end!!

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  13. Good idea to protect the compressor, Dan. The slide-off-melt from one DC blizzard landed on mine and put a huge dent in it (but fortunately no mechanical damage).
    I expect that soup would open up my sinuses — sausage and peppers! Sounds tasty though.
    Thanks for remembering Jinx. Than means a lot to me. Hugs on the wing.

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    • Whenever I see a single crow cawing up high, I think of Jinx, Teagan. The A/C protection makes me feel better. Especially when I have to move the heavy stuff that falls off.

      I hope you have a great weekend.

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  14. I really liked the light and captioun in the first picture of Mimi? and oooh those sparkles around the puddle with the leaf! You are very conscientious in taking care of your home. That’s smart.

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  15. ‘The peanut you gave me is gone’–that is the cutest ‘not asking for food while asking for food’ line I have ever heard. Here, Smokey, you little cutie. Have two.
    MuMu cracks me up. You have to admire a woman who knows her mind and doesn’t deviate. You are a slow learner, Dan. 😹 Have a great weekend.

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    • Smokey is requesting two peanuts at a time now. He eats one while guarding the other. Then he takes one and runs off. I guess it’s eat one and store one for winter. MuMu has to work hard to keep me in line. I slack off when she doesn’t visit every day. Have a great weekend, too, Lois.

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  17. That soup looks good. I remember back in grad school in sociology of sport, we learned that the less control players in a game had the more likely they were to be superstitious. So batters in baseball are more superstitious than the same players in the field, because batting has such a lower rate of success.

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  24. Oooohhhh… snazzy level, Dan. And I get the superstition thing. It rains here a lot but even when it’ sunny we never leave the house without umbrellas. We never get rained on. But the first time we aren’t prepared… It’s like if you wash your car you can be certain it will rain. My mother never went to my Dad’s softball games. She said if she was there they would lose. I think it had more to do with her not liking the other players’ loud mouthed spouses and the banter, but I did see her attend once. They lost. 🤷‍♀️

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  25. Yay for cooler weather (I assume) so that you can get the fence built before winter arrives. I watched the first Packers game and they lost, last night I didn’t watch and they won. Guess I’m NOT their lucky charm. ;-) Great photos – I love the lonely leaf and the flag. I hope you have a great week!!

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  26. I can’t believe you’re preparing for snow and ice…that’s a little depressing, but necessary. I also can’t believe the Patriots beat the Steelers…a little depressing for you. 🙂 Hang onto that good luck.

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    • Thanks Jennie. I was sad after that game, but it wasn’t totally unexpected. This is going to be a tough year for us. We’re 1-2 years behind you guys in a rebuilding effort. I don’t have a lot of projects to finish, but after what we paid for this new system, we want to make sure a load of ice and snow doesn’t damage it.

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      • It’s a whole lot easier to get work done before the cold sets in. We had a guy our here yesterday repairing s few funky boards. As to rebuilding, I know what you mean. Looks like you have a good quarterback.

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